The Skull Throne: A LitRPG novel (Kingdom of Heaven Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  I coughed, my body aching and my mind foggy. It took a few seconds, but finally, the memory of what happened to me came rushing back like a truck crashing right into my brain.

  I had been so stupid. I had fallen right into the Shadow’s clutches, done exactly what he’d wanted me to, even though I hadn’t been aware that was what he was going for.

  I had tried so hard, fought so much, and what did I get for my trouble? Knocked into the “Hell” part of KOH without even a hint of how to get out.

  I opened my eyes to find a cloudless night sky, but that wasn’t all. Clouds weren’t the only thing missing from this sky. There were also no stars, no moon, no hint of light at all. The sky was a suffocating black mat overhead. The only light at all came from every other thing in this damned place, all of which seemed to be in varying levels of “on fire.”

  As I sat up and took my surroundings in, my body screamed in agony, and my heart broke into like a million different shards of depression. The ground was dry and bare, no vegetation, no water, no rolling hills or dipping valleys. The entire expanse looked to be a flat, brown plane.

  No, pretty much the only discernible thing in this barren landscape were rocks everywhere of differing sizes. Some were as small as pebbles, while others were as large as houses. The bigger ones burned. Smaller pieces fell from them, sending showers of burning rock raining onto the desolate ground below.

  I stood, taking in a deep breath of air so sooty and warm, it actually hurt as I inhaled. My entire body felt heavy. Maybe it was because I was sweating so much already, maybe it was because I was still wearing this damned armor, or maybe it was because I knew without a doubt I was totally screwed.

  The rules of KOH were different than that of the world I’d come from, but the rules of this section of the game were different still. Of course, as no one knew what those rules were, I had zip to go on. I had heard rumors of people dipping into these levels, but none of them had been particularly good or enticing. The stories were so scary, so severe in fact, that I, along with about 99% of the player base, had purposely kept away from it.

  Hell, I never spoke of this place, and I certainly didn’t look for portals here the way I had for the Upper Level; not that my sojourn there had been a rousing success or anything.

  I took another breath. This one was smaller and shallower, but that didn’t help much. Breathing here just hurt too much, burned too much.

  As I had that thought, I pulled down my personal bar and looked at my Energy Level. It was completely full and comprehensible again, diminished back to merely huge levels from the near-infinite amount I had before. That “Avatar of the Principalities” buff was long gone, too, reducing my Attunements back down to where they had been. There was only one small glimmer of power left, as at the bottom of my Attunements list, a new one still sat there glowing, alongside a new Passive from said Attunement.

  Iron Jack, Level 63

  173,000/173,000 Energy (100%)

  Power of the Principalities Rank 1/100

  Source of Creation and Destruction

  Principalities Passive Power

  You can tap into the primal powers of the realms, either for creation or destruction. You are also passively shielded from such Effects, granting you +.5% resistance to all Damage and effects per Rank you possess.

  As I collected myself, I realized that I must have been out for longer than I’d have liked for me to regenerate all my health. Still, this atmosphere didn’t seem to hurt me – even though it was as uncomfortable as – well, as Hell.

  Shielding my eyes from the ever-present blaze with one hand, I looked out into the distance. There, off nearly as far as I could see in the distance, was a huge mountain. It was huge and was the only deviation from the otherwise flat landscape.

  My mind filled with thoughts of Ori and Hecate, my guides back above. I was without them now, and for all I knew, they were dead. Even if they weren’t, they probably thought I was.

  I felt so stupid, so helpless. How could I have let this happen? I steadied my stance, realizing that no matter what else happened to me, I had to make this right.

  Every step I took reminded me of my life back home and how much I’d taken it for granted.

  To make matters worse, I’d trapped myself in a virtual Hell. While my quest might have started with Ori and Hecate, there had been at least a glimmering possibility I’d get back now.

  Sure, they’d been less than honest with me on a number of occasions, but there was something about people who were willing to die for what they believed in (even if what they stupidly believed in was me) that forced me to give them mad props.

  Still, while this might have been their fight, they weren't Principalities. Worse, now their severed heads might be hanging ornately on the Shadow’s walls.

  I couldn’t let that stand. Whether it was because of Ori and Hecate or because of Flexmaster and what happened to him, I was engaged in this now. I cared about this place as an actual land and not just a distraction. Sure, I wanted to get home, but at the same time, I wanted to make things right.

  What had happened with the Shadow was my fault, and I had to do everything in my (albeit limited) power to set things right. It was the only way I’d ever be able to look myself in the mirror again. That was, of course, if this was the kind of place with actual mirrors. I guess that remained to be seen.

  As I moved forward, one foot falling in front of the other, the clang of my armor sounded more like death knells than anything else. I thought about stripping out of this crap, but I was too afraid. This place was an arena rife with threats of the highest level. At least, that’s what the rumors had said. This armor, this sword, and perhaps power I still didn’t truly understand, were the only tools I had. I couldn’t give them up.

  Besides, it wasn’t like I was going to drop dead from heat exhaustion. My Energy bar remained full and stalwart, a glowing reminder of how much life I had left and just how much fighting I was going to have to do.

  That was the thing though. What could I do? I knew nothing about this place. I sure as hell didn’t know how to get out of it and back to KOH’s main world. Even if I did get out of here, the Shadow might very well have already destroyed the place while I was down here.

  No. I couldn’t think like that. Where would Superman have been if he gave up when Zod and his cronies took over Metropolis? Where would Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been if she’d have given up when that hot god chick found out her little sister was the key? Where would Kate Winslet have been if she’d have given up after she had to pry the cold dead fingers of Leo DiCaprio off herself after refusing to share that big ass door with him?

  Dead, that’s where, and I had no intention of ending up dead.

  So, like Supes and my cinematic soul sisters, I kept walking even though each step fell harder than the last, and each breath hurt just a little more.

  The huge mountain was in the distance, and because I could see no other notable landmarks, I headed toward it. Maybe this place’s secrets would unfurl before me at the foot of that thing, or maybe I’d just waste time climbing a mountain. Only one way to find out.

  Just then though, the ground started to rumble under me, shaking like it had missed breakfast or something. I stopped where I stood, tensing my muscles and wondering what – if anything – I could do if the bottom fell out of Hell.

  I steadied my jaw, waiting for the end and then, instead, the ground stopped.

  My notifications bar came down, alerting me that I now had a new quest.

  I read over it, and my jaw dropped.

  “Oh…” I muttered as I took in the severity of the words I was reading over. “…oh shit.”

  New quest “Ascend to the Skull Throne’”added!

  New quest objective: Discover a portal out of the Lower Layers, master the Power of the Principalities, retake the Skull Throne, and save the Kingdom of Heaven!

  Yeah. No big deal, right? Before I could fully take in both the enormity of that task and
the small beacon of hope that quest provided, the ground rumbled again as a brilliant shaft of burning light erupted in the distance, serving as a waypoint. If you bought into the rumors about this place, the portals around here gave off that kind of light. Sure, it was miles away at best, but it was something, right?

  Collecting myself, I took a deep breath of the burning, sulfurous air and started my slow, torturous march across the blasted, burning wastes.

  Glossary

  Glossary of Kingdom of Heaven Game Terms

  Races of Kingdom of Heaven: Unlike most online role playing games, Kingdom of Heaven limits its players to human avatars. As the game concept revolves around spiritual realms and various afterlives, this appears to be a conscious decision by the game’s developers. However, it is possible for the human characters to develop non-human characteristics through the Attunement system.

  Character Attributes: Attributes define the capabilities of the human avatars in Kingdom of Heaven. When a human soul is integrated with their avatar, the avatar’s Attributes replace the ones previously possessed by the human body on Earth.

  Strength: Raw physical might and muscle power. It also affects the avatar’s melee damage and serves as a prerequisite for heavy weapons and armor.

  Agility: A combination of running speed, hand-eye coordination, and physical grace. It also increases the damage of ranged attacks and certain lighter melee weapons as well as serving as a prerequisite for those same weapons and light armor.

  Stamina: A measure of both physical fitness and durability. Stamina directly adds to the avatar’s Energy, the equivalent of health or hit points in other games.

  Spirit: As opposed to a normally quantified human trait, Spirit represents the connection between the human avatar and the various spiritual entities with which they can attune to in KOH. Spirit increases the effect of Active and Passive Powers gained from Attunements.

  Advancement: Avatars in Kingdom of Heaven advance in two primary ways: gaining character levels and Attunement ranks.

  Character level: Character level ranges from 1 to 50 (though this is expected to increase in the game’s next expansion pack). Levels are gained from earning experience from defeating monsters and completing quests. Every level gained increases base Energy by 100 times the number of the new level and provides both spendable Attribute points and Attunement ranks.

  Attunement ranks: Attunements replace the conventional idea of ‘classes’ in other games and represent the human avatar forming connections to powerful spirits in the afterlife realms of KOH to access both mundane and supernatural powers and knowledge. These Attunements range in rank from 1 to 100. They can be increased with Attunement ranks gained from leveling or quest rewards, but most commonly are increased by using the Powers gained from the Attunement.

  Attunements: As mentioned above, Attunements are representations of the connection between the human avatars and various afterlife spirits and spiritual creatures. Quite a few of these Attunements are archetypical heroic roles such as Knight, Wizard, Barbarian, or Archer, some are rather mundane professions like Miner, Blacksmith, or Chef, and finally there are many that are connections to non-human races and spiritual creatures like Demons, Ogres, Celestials, and Faeries. An avatar can gain as many Attunements as they can earn in-game but many require completing quests for trainers or powerful beings to access. It is quite possible that certain Attunements can prevent an avatar from learning one that comes from an opposing force, such as trying to access the Demon Attunement if you already have the Celestial Attunement.

  Active and Passive Powers: Attunements are the source of all Powers in the game. They provide Passive Powers automatically, with one Passive granted at rank 1 and an additional one at rank 10 and for every 10 ranks beyond that. Active Powers, however, must be trained by NPCs, learned from scrolls sold by shopkeepers, or granted as quest rewards. Each Attunement uses a special resource to active their Powers and these resources can vary wildly from one another.

  Iron Jack’s Attunements: Iron Jack’s Attunements are detailed to some degree below along with a brief explanation of their unique resources and how they work.

  Knight: The Knight is a heavy melee combatant and front-line fighter, both dealing damage and absorbing the attacks of opponents. Their resource is Endurance, a 'rage' type resource that is gained from inflicting damage, killing foes, and absorbing/taking damage. It starts at 0 with a max of 100 and trends towards 0 when out of combat. Their Abilities are all about melee combat (Knight's Flurry, Rending Strike), surviving damage (temporarily increasing armor, resistances, and defenses), or drawing the attention of monsters (shouts and taunts).

  Celestial: The Celestial is a connection to the holy servants of the Principalities, angels, paladins, and other heavenly spirits. Celestials can learn abilities that both inflict spiritual harm on foes (Holy Smite, Censure), heal the wounded (Mercy, Protective Halo), and even physically transform into an angelic form. Their resource is Sanctity, which is only spent on the strongest of Abilities, but dramatically affects the ability to use Abilities and their strength. It is gained slowly over time with large boosts for completing quests from good NPCs and 'performing good deeds', while it is lost from doing the opposite. Sanctity doesn't degrade without cause and ranges from 0 to 100%.

  Woods Mystic: Attunement to the Woods Mystic is a spiritual connection to druidic spirits and nature itself. Nature magic that can both harm and heal with natural powers. Lightning bolts, animated trees, entangling roots, protective wooden skin, and purifying waters are all within its portfolio. Its Resource is Balance, which oddly ranges from –50 to 50, always slowly moving toward 0. Negative Balance is called 'moving towards Wrath', increasing the power of damaging Nature Powers and weakening healing/support Powers. Positive Balance is called 'moving toward Harmony' and does the opposite: strengthening healing and support Powers while weakening damaging Powers. In general, offensive Powers build Wrath and healing/support builds Harmony, but there are exceptions.

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  Ring of Promise

  Unlike real life, Max is pretty good at playing games, so when a new limited time dungeon opens up in the virtual reality game he plays boasting a huge cash prize, Max knows he needs to try and complete it if he wants to be able to pay rent this month.

  Fortunately, the only guild strong enough to attempt to take it on before the timer runs out needs a tank.

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  Ring of Promise

  Chapter 1

  The glittering crystal spikes of the trees always caught my eye whenever I walked through the Earthfire Forest. Sitting at the edge of the Earth Kingdom, the shard of this broken world suffused with the power of the Element of Earth, the forest was a beautiful and dangerous conflagration of Elemental forces. It was along the edge of the land bounded by the Wrath, a seething and chaotic sea of raw energy that threatened to tear our world apart. From here, I could literally see the Flames of Wrath scorching and burning.

  The threat of geysers of hot, sticky magma added a frightening immediacy to that looming threat. Not wanting to be outdone, the constantly angry beasts that called this place home, corrup
ted beasts born of the mixture of earth and flame, were the sweetest icing on the cake of death that was Earthfire. You know, if icing came in the form of explosions of flame and the claws and teeth of the Ash Wolves. It was a region so dangerous that the Mountain King’s border guards didn’t set foot inside its borders for fear of a swift death and reincarnation at the nearest Life Crystal.

  Still, I had my pride and joy, a Grade S Tower of Solitude shield, to deal with that. It could take any damage the scorch wolves could dish out.

  That said, I normally wouldn’t be here, even though my Grade A Slate Sabatons helped me to ignore the razor-sharp shards of glass that imitated grass and the exploding seed-bundles that could drop from the trees. My quests here were done, and there wasn’t a single thing to be earned from hunting the beasts that lurked here.

  No, I was here for a job. I was a shield-for-hire, you could say, and a certain rich-but-novice adventurer had contacted me. He needed help with something here and wasn’t afraid to throw around the gold to make sure it got done. Ironically, it turned out to be something I hadn’t done here involving a certain rare and special beast that was said to haunt these woods. If I was lucky, I would be getting a double payday once I turned in the bounty quest … assuming the rich kid was right about the beast’s location.

  Narrowing my eyes, I took one last scan of the forest’s treacherous trees and scorched glades before doing a triple check of myself and my gear. As always happened, an involuntary sigh escaped my lips as my immersion in Elementalis was shattered by the main status UI (User Interface) flaring to life in front of me.